


Hail the Victorious Dead

by Haurvatat



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Gen, M/M, Missing Scenes, Post-episode 51, Pre-Slash, Underage Drinking, death mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-22 19:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3741043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haurvatat/pseuds/Haurvatat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuuya shows up in Reiji's office hours after their duel.  It's late and Reiji wishes the boy would just spit out whatever it is that's bothering him.  And maybe he wishes he knew how to shut up, while he's at it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hail the Victorious Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone would be friends if they could JUST. FUCKING. COMMUNICATE. Call this an alternate universe where people know how to discuss their feelings like mature adults, except for the part where they're terribly awkward and know in theory how this is supposed to go, but still manage to trip over themselves at every possible juncture.

Reiji could hear the shuffle of feet on hardwood, of coarse fabric shifting.

Honestly, it was like the boy thought him deaf to the world just because he was pulling up a few spreadsheets.  Or maybe Yuuya was just nervous and felt like hiding behind those ridiculously tall potted plants some interior designer had put there and Reiji had never given enough of a damn to have removed.  But then, considering how enraged and embittered Yuuya had been earlier (not to mention _loud_ ), it was unlikely that he was just nervous.

He sighed.  May as well open his mouth.  God knew how long they would be there otherwise.  “You can come out, you know.  Security phoned me ahead of time letting me know you were on your way, so it isn’t as though you’re particularly stealthy.”

A huffed sigh, possibly laced with frustration.  “I wasn’t going for stealth.  These aren’t the pants for it,” Yuuya said.  Reiji bit back a tiny grin.  The rough canvas certainly made loud swishing noises with every step.  Once Yuuya had stepped forward, the faint hint of a smile was gone.

Here and there, the younger boy was dotted with scratches from where he’d collided with cement and asphalt earlier that day.  Most had scabbed over already, but some were evidently bad enough that they’d had to be bandaged.  From the way he was holding his upper body, he might’ve dislocated a shoulder when fell.  It would explain why it had taken so long for Yuuya to stand up after it all was over if one or both arms were incapable of supporting his weight.  Reiji could detect a whiff of guilt deep in his heart, and immediately stamped it out.  Yuuya was lucky he hadn’t gotten away with much worse.  If he’d been dueling someone from Academia instead of Reiji, he’d be dead now.

Of course, Reiji thought, if it had been someone from Academia, Yuuya wouldn’t have lost.

“So why did you decide to pay me a visit this late?  I was under the impression you had family matters to attend,” Reiji said.  Best to keep things on track.

“I… I mean, I did.  Mom was pissed.  She used my middle name and everything.  You know how it is,” he said, chuckling nervously and scratching the back of his head.  “Swanky office.  Rolly chair.  Nice.”

“Mm.  I see.  Did you inform her about the Lancers?”

 “Didn’t have much of a choice about it.  She wanted answers, and once she decides on something, that’s it.  Either she gets what she wants or the thermostat in Hell drops.”

 “And her reaction?”

 Yuuya heaved a huge sigh and slumped in a cushy leather chair off to the side.  Reiji had never actually seen someone sit in it before.  “She was livid.  Pretty sure the bellowing didn’t stop for at least an hour.”

“So she’s against the idea?”

 “To put it delicately, yeah.”

So this was why he was here.  But that hardly made sense – Yuuya had already essentially told Reiji to take his Lancers invitation and shove it up his ass several hours ago.  Back when it had still been light out.  Why would he bother to reject Reiji formally now, on the basis of, ‘my mother won’t let me’?  Well, at least this time the rejection was more civil.  Reiji had been directed to suck quite a few dicks and kiss quite a few asses in his lifetime, so further invitations were not required.

 “I see.  I understand.  We will make preparations without you, then.”

 “Huh?  Wait, what?”  Yuuya looked startled.

 That was interesting.

 “Your mother isn’t willing to allow you to participate, am I wrong?” Reiji asked.

 “Well, she wasn’t at first, but…”  Yuuya looked everywhere other than his face.  “I might’ve talked her around a little.  Enough that she didn’t feel like tying me to a chair, anyway.”

 Reiji, to his private embarrassment, froze for a second or two.  “…I see.”

 “Christ, are you going to say anything different?  No surprise, no nothing?”

 Reiji cleared his throat.  “No, I simply had nothing else to say that would have accomplished anything.  Asking you to repeat yourself wouldn’t have given me any new information.”  Yuuya fidgeted in the seat still.  “It’s good to know you’ll be working with us.”

 “So… no hard feelings?” Yuuya asked.

 “None whatsoever.”  Reiji went back to editing his spreadsheet.  Payroll was the sort of thing that could go through ten certified public accountants and still end up with fifteen easily-recognizable errors in it by the time it ended up on his desk.  He really needed to talk to Human Resources about weeding out the weak, presuming that competent replacements could be found.

 Yuuya stood up, grabbing the knapsack he’d brought with him off of the floor.  It seemed at least one of his shoulders was functional.  That was something.  As he turned to leave, though, he hesitated.

 “I…  Well, I… um… listen, I-”  Reiji was going to throw a very expensive paperweight at him in the next ten seconds if he didn’t spit it out.

 “…I wanted to apologize.”

 The paperweight was forgotten.

 Only just barely managing not to splutter like a simpleton, Reiji asked, “I’m sorry?”

 “No, no – _I’m_ sorry.  That’s how this whole apology thing works,” Yuuya said.

 “I – no, I understood that.  I was confused as to exactly _why_ you felt the need to offer an apology at all.”

 Yuuya took a deep breath, staring determinedly over Reiji’s right shoulder.  “I wasn’t in a good emotional place when you arrived, and then… Then some things got said and I just – I flipped, and I said some pretty disgusting things back.  I shouldn’t have.  There’s no excuse.”

 He would have to be careful with his next words.  This was an olive branch, and Reiji was quite certain that if he fucked it up now, there would be no second chances.  “I _did_ say some appalling things, to be fair.”

 “Yes, you did.  Oh, believe me, I’m the last person you need to convince of that.”  Yuuya let loose a snort, a little bit of the earlier ire flickering in his eyes.  “But that didn’t give me the right to throw a tantrum, for Christ’s sake.  I’m allowed to be angry and bitter, but I’m not allowed to take it out on you or anyone else.  There’s a line, and I crossed it.  I said and did things I never would have if I had been thinking clearly.  And I wasn’t.  Just wanted to let you know I don’t plan on doing it twice.”  And with that said, he turned to go, those stupidly baggy cargo pants of his swishing obnoxiously.

 “…Wait.”  The word was out before Reiji could stop it.  There was no reason to be saying this.  He didn’t need Yuuya’s friendship or his trust – just his loyalty and willingness to follow orders.  Why was he opening his stupid mouth?

 “Did you need something?”

 “I… I would like to apologize as well.”  Stupid.  Fucking.  Mouth.  “To be honest, I needed you angry.  My Research and Development team badly wanted data from one of your more recent matches.  We needed you to go all-out against an opponent in a controlled environment where we could monitor energy spikes and convert it into usable data.  When the team proposed some… provocation… I didn’t argue.”  He didn’t even want to look at Yuuya’s face.  For all he knew, this would make everything worse.  “Please just know I never would have said those things had the situation been different.  It was never my intention to hurt you or anyone else.”

 “So you just said what you did because you knew it would piss me off.”

 “Yes.”

 “Even knowing that I was so emotionally unstable it could have had the opposite effect and I could have locked up and had a complete meltdown.”

 Reiji swallowed.  “To be honest, it never occurred to me that that was a possibility.  You are much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

 Yuuya stood there in silence, eyes tracing the grain of the hardwood, digesting.  Eventually he walked around the desk and hoisted himself up to sit on it.  Reiji bit back a complaint.  It wasn’t like he kept anything on it, anyway.  Most all his files were computer-based and he never kept any personal knickknacks there (aside from the paperweight, which had been a gift from a prolific business partner and therefore had to be displayed at all times, hideously ugly and useless thing though it was).  Yuuya pulled the knapsack up with him and began rummaging around.

 What Reiji hadn’t expected was the massive bottle of zinfandel that emerged, and the aghast expression on his face betrayed him.

“Where the hell did you get that?” he asked.

 “Mom’s emergency supply cabinet.  Also Gongenzaka has friends from the dojo that are over the drinking age and we may have called in a few favors.”

 “That – that is _very_ illegal.”

 “So is murder, but that didn’t stop a number of good people from dying today,” Yuuya said.  Trying to mask the bitterness in his voice didn’t work.  With a good yank, he dislodged the cork and handed the open bottle to Reiji.  “After Mom decided not to hang me by my ankles in a dungeon somewhere far, far away, a lot of my friends stopped by.  We had a few drinks.  Toasting the victorious dead, you know.  Selena is staying at my house now, did you know?  Apparently she realized I have many dogs and all of them love her, so now she isn’t interested in leaving.”  He smiled.  “It’s nice to see her having fun.  She seemed far too serious.  A bit like you.”

 Reiji eyed the bottle.  A toast to the dead?  Refusing would be… disrespectful.  And it wasn’t like he was all that far away from the legal drinking age, anyway.  There was no need for a designated driver when you A) lived in the same building you worked in and B) had your own chauffer.  Deciding it was for the greater good, he took a large swallow.  It actually wasn’t bad.  He could barely taste the alcohol.  Unsurprising, considering it was zinfandel.

 “I’ve got scotch if you need something a little more drastic.”

 Reiji snorted, nearly spraying wine everywhere.  He pounded a fist on his own chest a few times to get his breath back once he’d swallowed.

 “Whoa, there.  You all right, buddy?”  Yuuya was grinning and snickering, the fucking gremlin.

 “I’ve changed my mind.  You can’t be a Lancer anymore.”  Yuuya just laughed harder.  Reiji would have been pissed if it hadn’t been so welcome a sound.

 He’d been so frightened that after today, there would be no more laughter.  He should have known it would take much more than that to destroy this boy’s spirit.

 Yuuya just swiped the bottle and took a large swig of it himself.  They passed it back and forth, Reiji continuing to proofread the month’s payroll while they sat in companionable silence.  If either of them noticed that they kept edging closer to the other throughout the night, they said nothing of it.


End file.
